Emily's training blog

It was windy and cold when I woke up this morning, so I wimped out and went to the health club for a treadmill tempo run.  I warmed up two miles, and then ran a 5 mile tempo run starting at 10.0 mph, and increasing .1 every five minutes.  I ran this workout about three weeks ago, and could only make four miles, and it was miserable.  I actually felt strong through the whole run, and thought about adding one more mile, but decided not to get too crazy!   (I'm not always sure the treadmills are calibrated correctly, so maybe mine was slow.  But, the effort felt right.)  I ran 29:30 for five miles.  Then, I cooled down for two more miles.  Total time for nine miles was 57:10.

It was drizzling when I woke up this morning, and I almost turned over and went back to sleep.  However, the chances of me actually going running later in the day were slim to none, so I got up and went.  I'm glad I did.  It turned into a very pleasant morning, a little wet, but not too cold.  

My legs were pretty beat up from yesterday's tempo run.  I tried to run nice and easy.  I felt pretty good, despite some tightness for the first six miles.  The last three, my legs started to feel heavy.  I was happy to be finished.   I'm sure the gigantic hill after mile six didn't help matters. 

I ran 4800 out to the river trail and off at Winchester, I ran up Winchester to 1300W, up to 5400 S, and back home. 

Random sighting of the run:  I saw a pair of hightop sneakers in the middle of a restaurant parking lot.  It made me wonder what kind of scenario results in a person losing their shoes in the middle of a parking lot.  Hmmm.

After my screechy little girl woke me up at 4:30 this morning, I managed to fall back asleep for a little while, and dreamed that I won a half marathon in 1:15:19.  I love that in dreams running always feels effortless.  (Except for the ones where my legs won't move.  I hate those dreams.)  So, when my alarm went off half an hour later, I was properly motivated to get out on my run. 

The clouds looked ominous as I walked out the door, but thankfully, the rain held off this morning.  I ran out to 1300W,  to 7000 S, up to 2700W, back to 5400 S, and home.  The mile long gradual hill from 7000S to 6200S was particularly brutal this morning.  My legs are tired.  Hopefully, they will feel a bit fresher for tomorrow's fartlek run!

I did not get so lucky with the weather this morning.  It was pouring, and I had a speed workout to go do.  So, off to the health club I went, not feeling particularly motivated.  I warmed up two miles, and then ran 10 x 3minutes on/2minutes off.  I started the speed part at 10.5 mph, and increased .1 every 2 intervals.   I finished at 11.0 mph, and ran the two minutes easy at 8.0 mph.   I felt strong and in control until the last two.  Those were some serious work.  I ran a 12 minute cooldown, to bring my total mileage for the day to 11.5 miles.  Total time for the run was 1:14.  I'm going to be feeling this one for a couple of days, and hopefully I didn't pound too hard.  It was a good workout, even though it would have been more enjoyable to run it outside.  Easy and short tomorrow before Saturday's long run.

My legs are pretty trashed today, just as I thought they would be after yesterday's workout.  I ran very easy today.  I ran the SLCC loop in a light drizzle.  I awoke at my normal time (5a.m.) to a thunderstorm and major downpour.  That was definitely not the time to get out and run.  Thankfully, my husband decided to go into work a little later this morning, so I got to sleep in.  (It is sad that 6 :00 is sleeping in for me.) 

I bought my tickets to Seattle today.  For some reason it always makes me nervous to buy the tickets to my races.  The last couple of out-of-state races that I have signed up for, I have had to pull out of because of injuries.   Buying plane tickets feels like a jinx to me.  I need to shake that attitude and stay positive.  If I train intelligently and take care of my body, I will be healthy enough to run.  I'm not sure if I'm more excited to race, or to see my mom. 

I like to start my morning with an inspirational running experience.  Sometimes it is an incredible race result, like Desiree Davilla's Boston Marathon.  Sometimes it is a great workout from the fastrunning blog.  Sometimes it is an article from Letsrun.com.  One that has stuck with me this week is the story of an Olympic hurdler who struggled with shin pain.  When he received an MRI, he found that what he thought were shin splints, were nine stress fractures in his tibias.   He was out for six months with no weightbearing training.  He is just now returning to form.  I love his quote from the article  "An injury is a minor setback to a major comeback."   That has been my mantra this week when I become discouraged or unmotivated.   Comebacks are a long, difficult road, but so worth it when they happen. 

My inspiration for running today was Susannah winning the mile at the state championships in 4:54, followed by winning the 2 mile today in 10:39.  She was amazing!  What a way to finish up a stellar high school career. 

Devra met me at my house for a loop run that incorporated some road and some of the river trail.  I was still feeling Thursday's workout a bit, but nothing too terrible.  We were running along just fine until we hit the trail.  From miles 5-7 there were giant puddles (or ponds) on the trail. They were calf deep in some places, and there was no way to run around them.  We had to resort to removing our shoes and socks and wading across the puddles.  The trail improved after 4800S, and we ran into no more trouble during the run.  It made for an adventurous run, with a couple less-than-quality miles.  I am happy to be done for the week!